Eyeglasses, also known as spectacles or glasses are known. Oftentimes, eyeglasses are worn to aid or correct vision and to protect the eyes, such as from sunlight or debris. Eyeglasses may also be worn for cosmetic reasons or as a fashion accessory. A pair of eyeglasses has several typical components. Two tenses are located in front of the user's eyes. The two lenses may be connected by a bridge. Nose pads may also be located between the lenses, near the bridge. The lenses may be surrounded by a frame, although the lenses may be all or partially frameless. A hinge connects the frame or lenses to two temple pieces. When worn, the temples extend back from the user's face towards the ears. Each temple is connected to an earpiece which at least partially wraps around the user's ear.
Oftentimes a user will have a small number of eyeglasses, such as one or two pairs of eyeglasses, which are worn on a regular basis, such as daily. The frame, bridge, temples, and earpieces of the eyeglasses may be decorative or ornamental, such as colored or having a pattern. Attempts have been made in the past to create eyeglasses with removable portions. However, assemblies of the past are inefficient and do not provide a simple, effective way to change the entire look of the eyeglasses.
Most previous attempts to create eyeglasses with removable portions include an entire primary pair of eyeglasses that may receive removable, decorative pieces. For example, European Patent Application No. 1,251,388 discloses a design wherein a pair of eyeglasses having a permanent frame, temples, and earpieces may receive an ornamental bottom frame which is detachable and interchangeable to allow the appearance of eyeglasses to be changed. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/073823 discloses a spectacles and ornament assembly. The spectacles include lenses, a bridge between the lenses, a complete frame surrounding the lenses, and temples. One or more removable ornaments may be attached to the spectacles. For example, an ornamental piece may cover the entire front of the frames, the top or bottom half of the frames, or the temples.
French Publication Number 2,900,743 provides an arrangement wherein a top, decorative piece may be added to a primary eyeglasses frame to cover the top half of the front of the frames. Likewise, European Patent Application No. 1,647,854 discloses an ornamental, partial eyeglasses frame, similar to a frame without lenses. The ornamental frame may be attached to the primary eyeglasses frame. U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,051 discloses a magnetic, removable display for eyeglasses. A primary, metal eyeglasses frame may receive removable printed matter, generally in the form of two partial fronts that each surrounds one lens. In addition, the frames may receive removable temple pieces. Similarly, clip-on sunglasses are known in the art, which provide a full, front overlay to a pair of eyeglasses, including sunglasses lenses and oftentimes at least a partial frame.
Other attempts to create eyeglasses with interchangeable ornamental portions include very small decorative pieces that may be attached to the eyeglasses. United Kingdom Patent Specification No. 881,494 discloses a spectacle frame having a detachable member. The detachable member is a small ornamental facing, which is located near the top of the front side of the spectacle frame. Similarly, United Kingdom Patent Specification No. 855.268 discloses eyeglasses having a removable, ornamental piece which may be located in the top corner of the frames. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0133883 discloses removable, decorative side panels which may attach to the temple pieces of a pair of eyeglasses. Furthermore, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0080555 discloses an eyeglasses mounting system for eyeglasses that includes a decorative component which may be removably attached to the eyeglasses. The decorative component is generally U-shaped to slide over an eyeglasses temple.
Although the above-described references provide interchangeable components for eyeglasses, none provides a simple, efficient way to change the entire look of the pair of eyeglasses rather than simply a portion of the glasses. For example, many of the references provide a small, interchangeable, ornamental piece which may be located on the sides, such as the temples, or front of the eyeglasses. Other references provide an ornamental front, but the temples of the glasses remain permanent. Therefore, the entire look of the eyeglasses is not changed. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to simply and efficiently change the frame and temples of a pair of eyeglasses.